Guardian: How To Teach Suffragettes
How to teach ... the suffragettes
It’s 87 years since women won the right to vote in the UK. Use our lesson ideas – including role play and protest songs – to mark the occasion
After much campaigning women were finally given the right to vote on 2 July 1928. Photograph: Alamy
This summer marks 87 years since women in the UK won the right to vote.
On 2 July 1928 the Representation of the People (Equal Franchise) Act was finally passed. It allowed women over the age of 21 to go to the ballot box, signifying the beginning of electoral equality in Britain.
To celebrate this historic date, the Guardian Teacher Network has a selection of resources for learning about the suffragettes, who campaigned tirelessly for this cause.
Primary students
Kickstart discussion by asking why we vote and who should take part? Are students surprised that less than 100 years ago women couldn’t vote? Use thephotographs in this picture display pack to introduce who the suffragettes were.
You can bring their story to life with this audio drama which follows Lady Constance Lytton as she protests for the vote. Suitable for key stage 2 and 3, the resource is ideal for exploring fairness and democracy. It includes lesson plans, assemblies and fact files. Use these to build up aword bank under this display banner.
Challenge your primary class to find out more about two or three famous suffragettes as a group or homework task. They could then write a sentence about each one to include in a worksheet similar to this one about women in British history by PrimaryLeap.
A great way to visualise the journey towards women’s suffrage is to create a “Votes for Women” timeline. This could include drawings, photographs and short pieces of writing about key moments in the campaign. Students can compare the situation in the UK with other countries using this “Women’s Suffrage Timeline” (suitable for children of all ages) fromTeacherVision. Can students find an example of a country where some women still can’t vote?
Examine the harsh treatment that many suffragettes experienced in prison with part two of the Parliament Education Service audio drama, available here. Use the accompanying lesson ideas to inspire a debate about the methods the suffragettes used to make their voices heard. Why did they think such measures were needed? What would suffragettes have done today?
Role play is a great way to explore these ideas further. Working in pairs, one student could act as a suffragette explaining to a friend or family member why they are willing to go to prison for their cause. We have a range of useful props to support performances including a procession ticket, newspaper and postercreated by Twinkl.
Secondary students
Capture older students’ imagination with Deeds Not Words, a key stage 3 resource that focuses on the development of the women’s suffrage movement between 1900 and 1918. Students investigate the social and political standing of women at the start of the 20th century and they consider the difference between suffragists and suffragettes. Working in groups, can students identify the pros and cons of the different tactics they used? Is it justifiable to break the law as part of a political campaign? The resource includes teacher’s notes and a student handbook.
The prison case files of two suffragettes involved in burning down a tea pavilion at Kew Gardens in 1913 provide a fascinating look at the women’s suffrage movement for students at key stage 3 and 4. By interpreting the documents, students can discover how the authorities regarded their actions, how the women were treated, how they responded to their imprisonment, and how the press reported the event. As a follow-up task, ask your class to write a description of the protest for inclusion in a history textbook, or encourage them to record what happened in a newspaper article, video or blog. You’ll find more teaching ideas on the tactics used by the suffragettes, police and government here.
Newspaper coverage of the death of Suffragette Emily Davison is the focus of this resource from the Guardian Education Centre. Students are encouraged to delve into the archives of the Manchester Guardian to find out what happened when Davison ran in front of the King’s horse at the Epsom Derby on Wednesday 4 June 1913. As an extension task, ask groups to discuss more recent reports about the circumstances of Davison’s death and calls for a statue of her in parliament.
Suffragette protest songs are the inspiration behind this Amnesty Internationalresource that explores how different cultures have used their voices in protest. Students start with a song called March of the Women, written by suffragette Ethel Smyth in 1911. They then look at protest songs from Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) – a group of Zimbabwean women fighting against the rule of Robert Mugabe – and the Egyptian uprising. The resource includes worksheets to consolidate understanding. Based on what they’ve learned, is there anything students feel inspired to write about? For example, do they feel that democracy has delivered a truly fair society for women? If not, how do they think society needs to change? In which parts of the world are women still denied equal rights?
As an end of unit assessment, remove several words, phrases, dates and names from this National Archives document about the suffragettes and see if students can fill in the blanks. Alternatively, ask students to identify four key moments in the struggle for women’s suffrage and record these in a series of drawings similar to the Dearsley Windows created by artist Shona McInnes.
For more ideas when teaching about democracy and equality, see these How to teach articles about human rights, political campaigning, and UK Parliament Week.
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